Marathon runner Yoshida gets one-year doping ban

Kaori Yoshida was stripped of her fourth-place finish in December’s Honolulu Marathon on Thursday, when the Japan Anti-Doping Agency revealed she had tested positive for a banned substance.

Yoshida, 32, received a one-year suspension from the agency after testing positive for the performance-enhancing drug erythropoietin (EPO) at the Honolulu race. The ban is retroactive from Jan. 18.

According to the agency, Yoshida had received medication from a doctor in November to treat anemia and it was unknown to her the prescription contained EPO. Considering the circumstances of her first drug offense, what would normally be a two-year suspension was reduced to a single year.